WOMEN IN BUSSINESS
For years, working women found they had little chance of getting a top job. The bosses of big business were nearly always men. They were often good at managing money but bad at managing people. Most of them were good at selling traditional products but bad at creating new ones. Many of them thought in the same way, said the same kinds of things and wore the same dark suits. But in recent years, business has changed. There are now opportunities for people to think differently and to manage companies in new ways. At last, women have been able to test new ideas and try new ways of working. Although many women still have problems in the workplace, more and more are reaching the top in their business lives.
Number of businesswomen grows every year. More that 50% of students in the world are women. Women play a more important role in the world's economy than before. There are countries, where the number of female entrepreneurs is bigger than the number of male entrepreneurs (e.g. Switzerland, Singapore, Brazil etc.). For the most part it happens in countries of Eastern Asia, Africa and Latin America, because of the ever growing markets. There are a lot of outstanding examples of women, who have achieved everything they have by themselves. My favorite example is Anita Roddick, the founder of worldwide company “The Body Shop”. Her story is very interesting. Anita never thought about a life as a businesswoman. When she left school, she studied to be a teacher and then decided to travel. She visited many countries, including Tahiti, Australia and South Africa. Later she got married with the writer Gordon Roddick. As they didn’t have much money, they decided to run their own business. Anita thought about the kind of business she would like to start. She decided to open a shop, that will be selling cosmetics. She didn’t want to make money just to get rich; she wanted to be sure that she was selling a good product and offering a good service.
Anita had seen how women in many countries made cosmetics from natural products. She wrote to several big cosmetics companies and asked if they could help her, but they all thought that she was crazy. After several weeks, she found a chemist who could make these things for her. Anita knew she was in business. Then Anita opened a small shop. And some years later she sell half the company’s shares to a local businessmen.
Later they grew up to a worldwide company, and it made her one of the most successful business woman.